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On/off switching on polymer conformation
Author(s) -
Yoshikawa Kenichi
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200351103
Subject(s) - polymer , folding (dsp implementation) , chain (unit) , single chain , molecule , materials science , chemical physics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , astronomy , antibody , electrical engineering , immunology , composite material , biology , engineering
Abstract The manner of folding transition from elongated coil to compact globule of single polymer chain is discussed. Based on theoretical consideration, it is argued the semi‐flexible polymer chain exhibits large discrete transition on the level of individual single chains, whereas the transition looks continuous, or cooperative, on the ensemble of chains. As the experimental verification, in the present article thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of folding transition of single giant DNA molecules are described. It is shown that rich variety of nano‐ordered structures are obtained from single DNA molecules through suitable setup of the experimental conditions. The stability of such nano‐structures generated from single polymer chain is discussed in relation to the ordered compact structure with large number of chains in semi‐dilute and concentrated polymer solutions.